Research Presentation Instructions

Everyone in the class will conduct at least one presentation on a research paper from a computer-human interaction conference.

The goals of this assignment are to

• Provide you and the class with an opportunity to learn about recent research in HCI.
• Provide you with the opportunity to practice your presentation skills, which is critical to your future success.
• Provoke class discussion on HCI research.

You will present the paper that has been assigned to you on the designated class date.

The presentation must be in a the following format. No exceptions.

Use the provided template for the presentations. This is a variation of the Pecha Kucha format, which will help you design presentations that are concicesly convey ideas in a compelling way. The format will also require that you practice the presentation many times in advace because you do not control your slides. They advance 20s per slide, for 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Your presentation must include:

• A brief description of the big ideas (this is least important because everyone will have read the paper)
• Your evaluation of the ideas
• How you would extend the experiments/what's the next logical step (this is the most important part)

The presentation must also include a 3-4 minute demo, video, or mock up of something that will help us understand the paper better than the text, or that will help us learn about a related topic. This should show us, or teach us, something new not in the paper. To find this mateiral, you may have to do some research, contact the paper's author, etc. If you have trouble, ask the instructor for ideas. As discussed in the template, the demo can be near the end of the talk (as in the template) or at a logical spot in the presentation, but it must not go longer than 4 minutes.

You can operate your computer during the demo periods, but otherwise the slides will advance on their own, no matter what.

The template provides more detail.

Absolutely do not do any of this...

• Cut and paste text directly from the paper into your slides
  (and if you do need to use exact wording, you must use quotes and attribute the text properly)
• Stand a look at your slides (instead looking at the audience and making eye contact)
• Mumble so we cannot hear you (instead, project your voice)
• Put large amounts of text on a single slide and expect that you or your audience to have time to read it
• Use gratuitous clip art ... images are great but only images that convey important ideas
• Have awkward timing gaps that demonstrate that you have not practiced and refined your presentation (Hint: you should always know what the next slide says so that you can seamlessly go from slide to slide).

To present will will require that you have practiced many times in front of a live audience. Remember that practicing by yourself is not the same as speaking out loud to other people ... the latter will always change your speed and make you more nervous, so practice to avoid any problems.

You will present on your own laptop. Prior the start of class, test that your laptop works with the AV equipment in the room.

Presentations will be graded on adherence to the format and overall presentation clarity, as well as demonstration by the student of a thorough understanding of the topic being discussed and ability to launch a class discussion about the material. All students will be asked to present at least once, possibly more depending on class size.

The presentation is 10% of your overall grade.